1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications, and more specifically, to security in communication systems.
2. Background
In a wireless communication system which carries non-voice traffic, such as video, data, multimedia, or other types of traffic in addition to voice traffic, a typical cellular base station may broadcast a multimedia traffic service if the number of users demanding the service exceeds a predetermined threshold number within the coverage area of the base station. The multimedia traffic service may be a video stream of an event such as a sporting event or a highlighted portion of a sporting event, for example. If there are not enough users demanding the service in the coverage area, the base station may transmit the service only to the specific users who have demanded the service through dedicated channels instead of broadcasting the service to all users in the coverage area.
Sometimes a rogue or illegitimate user may attempt to force the base station to broadcast the service to all users in the coverage area by registering multiple times in an idle mode, for example, by assuming a number of different identities. If one or more rogue users use mobile telephones in the idle mode to register multiple times in a coverage area to receive the contents of an event, the base station may count the number of registrations as legitimate user registrations for the event and broadcast the event to all users in the coverage area.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a network operator or content provider to have reliable means to verify that only legitimate registrations for a multimedia event be counted in a coverage area and not be forced to broadcast the event to all users in the coverage area due to fake registrations.